It was the first Sunday of the new year, so Maurice Benard wanted to have a very special guest on his video podcast series, State Of Mind, and decided to welcome back his son Joshua, who plays Adam on GH, to the program. The audience got a special treat towards the end, when Joshua’s singer girlfriend joined in the very frank discussion.
Maurice Benard Welcomes Back Joshua
Before Sydney Shea joined the father and son team, the elder Benard had a few scripted questions to ask, including how he would define love, how he felt about fear, and he also asked Joshua to catch the audience up on what he’d been doing since he was last on. At the time he couldn’t speak about his role of Adam on the HBO Max (now known as just Max) series, The Rehearsal with Nathan Fielder, so he took the opportunity to shed light on how improvisation was used to bring it all to life.
“The fact that they just had me go in with no dialogue, no script, at all, nothing…you don’t do that on General Hospital ever, do you?” he asked. After going back and forth in assuring that never is the cast, the younger actor continued. “You..you taught me to improvise, to just be a good actor you have to be able to improvise,” he reminded, before explaining they had him go in the room for an hour and a half by himself…just living as the character. It was an amazing experience he was excited to share.
Later on, Shea joined the two and her ease with the two men was obvious as she fell right into a rhythm with the two men, sharing her thoughts about relationships, growing up all around the area, what she learned from being with Joshua and he did the same of how being her has helped him, especially with anger.
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In promoting this episode, Maurice shared on his Instagram a clip from their talk about the need for mental health classes for kids growing up — a fascinating and needed discussion — and wrote next to it, “I definitely believe there should be mental health courses in school. Children should start learning about mental health at a young age, and grow up with a lot more understanding and compassion towards Mental Illness.”
That’s what spurred Maurice to share a story from childhood, prior to his own breakdown, about his reaction to a fellow student who was having a breakdown of his own. Maurice pointed out that had they been taught about mental health issues, the kids (including himself) probably wouldn’t have run away from the young man, but perhaps would have helped. “It’s sad that I did not give him compassion,” he said.
Benard encouraged the young couple to sing a song together, which was a true treat for viewers who enjoyed hearing their voices meld together. It wasn’t the first time they’ve performed together. Joshua has shared their collaboration on his Instagram account but it is beautiful and fans watching will certainly enjoy it. You can watch the entire episode here.
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